


The Great Divide Chapter 6: Lights Out

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The Great Divide [6]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Computers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F.E.C., Fluff and Smut, Future Fic, Gay, Gay Male Character, Homosexuality, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Science Fiction, starset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 12:19:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11126877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: Faced with two dangers, will the F.E.C. get the upper hand on the Messengers?





	The Great Divide Chapter 6: Lights Out

I looked from Benjamin to Dr. Browning in disbelief; I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. There was a lunatic on the loose in their facility and he was armed with one of the most dangerous devices that was ever invented. I let out an audible sigh and shook my head. “I don’t know much about Thomas's past, or who he was before any of this started, but I do know that he beat your doctor to death rather gruesomely, and if things were different, he probably would of done something terrible to Ben as well. I don’t understand how you can all be so calm sitting here!”

Doctor Browning gave me a stern look. “There are other extenuating circumstances that you are unaware of Dustin Bates. So I suggest that you not be so quick to judge the way that we are handling this.”

I felt as though the good doctor was almost challenging me. Better judgment told me to back down and not let him provoke me, but there was something in his tone that almost dared me to come back at him. The tension in the air was growing, and Lizzie was shifting nervously from one foot to another. I narrowed my eyes at Browning. “Please enlighten me doctor, what information am I missing?” 

He started to speak and then Ben suddenly cut him off. “What we need to be aware of at this point is that he’s got the visor. We have no way of knowing if he’s used it on someone already. The conversion process take time to fully brainwash an individual and it seems to be random. Thomas had been converted in a matter of hours, for Dustin it was a period of months before they got anything. It is a very distinct possibility that he’s already used it, perhaps someone in this room even.”

“And you as well, Benjamin.” Doctor Browning stated flatly. “He used the visor on you. We can’t be 100% certain that your intentions are all good.”

Ben stood up from his desk, turning his head sharply in the direction of the doctor. He was getting angry, I could tell by his body movements. “Choose your next words very carefully, Browning.” 

Browning knew that he irritated Ben. I held my breath for a moment, the tension in the room growing by the minute. “It seems odd. You bring a stranger here, at the same moment that your second in command goes nuts, and expect us to treat him like he’s one of us. I am not the only one who’s noticed this either. Ever since Bates got here, there’s been rumors going around that you are—“

His words were cut short as there was a frantic buzz at the door, followed by the static sound of the intercom from the other side. “Commander Burnley, request permission to enter sir, I have important information.” Ben nodded and Lizzie went to the door, allowing the soldier to enter. He was of low rank, wearing mismatched body armor that had been hand painted with various bits of propaganda against the F.E.C. He entered and saluted Benjamin. “Sir. Reports are showing that we have a breach of the perimeter on the north side. One of the gates had been deactivated somehow and our motion detectors show that someone slipped inside before we could get power back online.”

“Inside? Not out away from the base?” Browning asked, looking confused. 

“No Sir. We managed have a few seconds of video surveillance showing this person slip past the gate and disappear onto the grounds somewhere but then we lost him.”

“Thomas said that he contacted the F.E.C.! Oh dear god, what if it’s one of the Carnivores? He could be there planning bombs and disabling our cloaking devices!” Dr. Browning was in a full state of panic now, and it was growing by the moment. “We’re done for, and it’s all YOUR fault Bates.” He shoved a finger into my chest harshly and came right up into my face. I stood my ground without moving. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. “All this is your fault. For all we know, you could be working with them too. The proof is there, you’ve already ‘penetrated’ our ranks.” 

I couldn’t take anymore, something took over me and I lunged across the table after him, grabbing him by his shirt collar and tugging on it forcibly. “How dare you say that, you have no idea what I’ve been through, the things that I had to deal with? Thomas is your traitor, not me, why can’t you see that?”

“Dustin?” I looked over to Ben. He wasn’t happy. I immediately let go of the doctor and resumed my position on the other side of the desk, leaning against it and crossing my arms in front of my chest. “Here is what we are going to do, Browning, I want you and Lizzie to report back to the Infirmary and start going over the data you’ve collected about Thomas before you lost him, there’s got to be something there that we can use. Dustin, I want you to go to the security room, Lizzie can show you the way before she joins the doctor, and watch the surveillance tape. Find out any information that you can about this intruder and then report back to me.”

I didn’t like the idea of being away from his side; it made me feel incredibly uneasy. “Ben… I…”

He shook his head, almost reading my mind. “It’s fine.” He pointed to the two guards who had entered with the doctor. “I am going have them escort me to my office to give them their orders for the perimeter search and brief them on increasing security. I will be there waiting for you when you return.”

I reluctantly agreed, I didn’t want to oppose him in front of the doctor and guards. The thought of Ben being so vulnerable crushed me. For once in my life I had something to protect, something to hold onto and take care of, but I was being forced away and it hurt. Part of me tried to rationalize it, as I watched the guards lead him out of the room, thinking that he had a certain kind of respect to maintain, and that my presence here was a detriment to it. I had to regard his wishes so that he wouldn’t lose face. But what was Ben to them anyway? He didn’t belong here, just as much as I did. We could have easily slipped away in the middle of the night and stared a life together alone, without the threat of the F.E.C. Deep inside, I knew this couldn’t happen, the F.E.C. were enslaving the people here on Prox and destroying the land. If they weren’t stopped, there would be no place to run away to. Doctor Browning soon followed them out, and I saw Lizzie was standing near the door, patiently waiting for me. I couldn’t help but to feel a bit awkward around her now, although I couldn’t exactly put my finger on the reason why. 

We left Ben’s private quarters and started heading down the corridor, walking in a uncomfortable silence. I tried my best to make polite conversation with her. “Lizzie, so how long have you been with the Messengers?” I asked, curious.

“A few months.” She replied, keeping her eyes trained and fixed forward. “I don’t remember any of my life before the F.E.C. took me. The only thing I can remember is waking up one day strapped down to a chair with about a dozen or so other people and being told that we were to follow orders and obey. Refusal meant very severe and painful torture.” Her voice dropped a bit, and became very frightened. “Some of the people I woke up with, went away and never came back. Every time one disappeared, they would bring in 5 more as replacements. They wouldn't last long either. There were whispers going around that the F.E.C. used the people who rebelled against them used them as bait for the Carnivores, to teach them how to be brutal and vicious, feeding them meals of human muscle and fat.” She shivered and took a breath.

I felt sorry for bringing the subject up. I had no idea that the F.E.C. had done such terrible things, and the more I was learning, the more I knew that it positively had to be stopped. This is why Ben was fighting, he was fighting for them. I wanted to learn more from her, but was apprehensive to inquire any further. 

Without me asking, she soon started to speak again as we continued to walk. “A group of us managed to find a way out, and we made it out of their facility. We lost a few along the way but somehow made it out and into the desert that surrounds their headquarters. Everyone agreed that it would be better to succumb to the elements and die of hunger and thirst, rather to have our bones picked at by those freaks. Just when we thought that we were going to die, Thomas found us. He was out scouting around trying to triangulate some coordinates and spotted our group. I thought that he was an angel, sent out to bring us home.”

Suddenly it all made sense now, her sudden detachment and attitude change. She was close to Thomas, the tone in her voice made it very apparent. I felt bad for her, the person that she knew was a caring, kind hearted man, and the one I knew was a horrible murderer. I silently wondered if it was more than a casual relationship between them. “Did Thomas have any family here?” I asked. 

“No. He was one of the first to escape from the F.E.C. and make it here. He’s told the story about how it was in ruins, falling apart, a lost relic from another place in time when he arrived and he worked so hard to make it into a place where we could be free.” She stopped as we found ourselves on an enclosed bridge with massive curved windows that connected one part of the base to another and pointed out to the massive dunes of sand beyond. “See those rocks over there far off in the distance? Thomas said that they were artifacts buried there in the dirt and debris. He said that sometimes when time and space get distorted, little trinkets and bits got carried with it and would end up here.” She laughed a little. “I always thought that he was silly, telling stories about people being able to travel through time and space by only harnessing and concentrating energy.”

I remained silent and slipped my hand into my pocket, feeling cold metal touch my fingertips and pulled out Ben’s ring, looking at it as if it had been the most precious diamond in the entire world. This was evidence that the two worlds were connected somehow, and that Thomas had information on how to manipulate them. Whether or not he could do it though, frightened me, he had the visor, and now he might possibly know the truth about how Ben and I came here. He was getting to become more and more of a threat as time passed, and I knew that I had to find a way to stop him. I refused to let him break Benjamin and I apart. We had fought for so long for this. We started walking again and I kept to myself thinking about the situation, something still did not sit right with me. “Lizzie, why do you suppose that Thomas put the visor on? He knew what it was capable of, and what it could do. Why put your own life at risk, and the lives of everyone here?”

“No one exactly knows, he smuggled the device in when he returned from rescuing you. The official report that he made when he got back stated that it had potential healing properties, which he wanted to investigate, however it was broken and useless, no one suspected that he would be so foolish to try it himself.” She explained.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty stupid thing to do.” I agreed.

Lizzie stopped and looked at me, her eyes bright and the expression on her face serious. “No it’s not. Have you ever been in love, Dustin? Now imagine that feeling, only the person that you love becomes so distant to you, that you’re willing to do anything to get their attention, even just for a few moments. All you want is to have them look at you, and see you for the person that you really are, to see the love that you have for them and have it returned to you. It’s a terrible feeling when it isn’t reciprocated. You feel like your heart is going to burst.”

I was confused now more than ever. Was she still speaking about Thomas, or about herself? I was about to ask her more when we reached the main command room. “We’re here.” Reaching out, she tried to swipe her card through the reader, but it kept blinking red, much to her irritation. In a huff, she turned to me. “I forgot that Commander Burnley changed my access, you will have to open the door, Dustin.”

Shoving the ring I was fiddling with back into my pocket, I bought out the card that Benjamin had issued for me and zipped it through. The door immediately opened up and Lizzie gestured for me to go inside. Sitting in front of a panel of monitors were two members of the Messengers, their eyes scanning from one square to the next, watching for any signs of danger. They looked up at me with a bit of irritation as I stepped in. Lizzie followed me and came to stand next to me. “This is our Central Command center. We have monitoring locations set up all over the base as well as the grounds outside that run 24/7 as well as motion detectors and various listening devices. Whatever is going on around here, these gentlemen know about it. This is Dustin Bates, he is going to be second in command, due to Thomas’s unfortunate dismissal.” I thought that her choice of words were very interesting. They both gave me a courteous nod and glanced over to Lizzie for approval. “Commander Burnley would like you to show the recording of the intruder from earlier this morning, and assist him in whatever else he requires.” She smiled at me and traced her steps back towards the door. “Will you be alright to find your way back to the Commander’s office, Mr. Bates or would you like to have me wait for you?”

“No Lizzie, I am sure I can find my way back there, thank you.” Truthfully, I just wanted to be left alone, I had access to the entire base and wanted to do some exploring on my own. She turned and left me with the two men in the room, who quickly pulled a chair over for me. They introduced themselves to me as Smith and Meyers, they had been working as security and surveillance with 4 others, each set having a predetermined set of hours to sit and watch. As the older one, Smith started fumbling around on the keyboard, trying to find the footage I requested from the breach, I took the moment to inquire more about Thomas and his escape. They admitted that there wasn’t any surveillance tape of his escape, as there were no cameras in the infirmary, as per Dr. Wise request. He valued his patients’ privacy, at whatever the cost, and it would seem like he paid the highest price possible for them. Nor were there any cameras in private quarters, which made Thomas’s escape all that more easy. Both of the men held Thomas in high regards and respect, saying at between his high intelligence and Ben’s charisma, they made for a perfect team, one which the Messengers would follow to the end of the universe. Hearing them talk about Ben and Thomas together made me feel troubled and antsy. I couldn’t wait to finish off the task I had been appointed and return to Benjamin as soon as I could.

One of the men queued up the footage, and played it back for me. At first, there was nothing but the desolate landscape on the horizon, which I scrutinized intently until I saw movement in the corner of one of the screens. It was just before dawn, Ben and I would of still been asleep, safely tucked away in each others arms when a black all terrain vehicle pulled into sight. The figure that sat on top of it caused my heart to stop for a second. He was wearing a black cloak with a cowl attached, completely covering his body and head. A black scarf was wrapped around his face, and a pair of goggles topped it off. It looked exactly like the Monster from my nightmares. It dismounted the bike and stepped toward the perimeter fencing, fidgeting with a device attached to it’s wrist. Seeing it a bit more clearly now, I could make out a thick black body armor covering his chest, as well as additional armor pieces attached to it’s forearms thighs and shins. I gasped at the frightening sight and sat back in my chair a little. 

“It’s one of the Carnivores.” Smith said, turning pale as the words escaped his lips. “Once given a task, they won’t stop hunting down their prey until it’s dead.”

I squinted my eyes at the screen, trying to get a better image. “It will stop if we find it and kill it first.” I said, trying my best to give the men confidence.

Meyers chirped in. “No man, you don’t get it. These things, Carnivores, he’s not kidding when he says they won’t stop hunting until its prey is dead. They aren’t ~human like you or I. Sure they have human bodies, but they are genetically altered freaks of nature manufactured by the F.E.C. Born in the labs, all of the pain receptors are neutralized at birth, so they can’t feel pain. The brain is then altered so that the only thing they will respond to is the command of their Master. They upload the information there are receiving to the mainframe at the F.E.C. base every second that they are active, so if you do manage to kill one of these pieces of shit, the computer responds by downloading that data into another body and sending a replacement out to finish the job. It’s all automated. If there is a Carnivore sent for you and you alone, you’re pretty much a dead man walking.” I stared at the black image on the screen, standing there in the dirt and dust, trying my hardest to control the emotions that were threatening to overcome me. The Monster from my dreams, the thing that stalked me endlessly, both in the past and here in the future… was a Carnivore? No. It couldn’t be. I was the Monster, I was the darkness. A sudden thought crossed my mind and I started to feel nauseous. This was the future, a future on a distant planet. Somehow, they came into being…someone had to create them from an idea, a vision.. a dream.. Oh god!! Could they possibly be born from MY memories that they stole from me. They ripped the image of the Monster out of my head and gave it life, turning it into some sort of killing machine. It was all my fault. I was their creator. 

“Mr. Bates?” 

I shoved the thought out of my head for a moment and returned to the monitor in front of me. “What? Sorry I was distracted for a second.”

“Well, as I was saying… if you watch, you can see that the thing is able to shut down our power grid, and slip past all the security without any trouble at all. We believe that it may have a jamming device. If this thing is using that, not only can it get past the main security, but it can temporarily shut down any system that we have for a short period of time.” He pointed back at the screen again. “As you can see, after he gets past the fence, he remotely sends the vehicle away and then under the cover of darkness, makes his way past the camera and presumably into the base.”

I could not tear my eyes off the screen, watching the Monster appear at the edge and then disappear off screen again and again, caught in a endless loop of static images. “You don’t know for certain if it’s in here though, do you?” I asked, trying my best not to let on to the fact that I was terrified. 

“No Sir, and with that device on it's wrist, we will have no way of knowing either.” 

I got up from my chair and started pacing, occasionally stopping to stare at the image on the screen. “Thomas called for it, but the question remains, who did he send it after? Who is the target?” I stopped pacing for a moment. One of the men paused the video, leaving it on a still of the foreboding, evil looking creature in all it’s concealed darkness. It looked like the thing of nightmares. Lost in my thoughts, I was watching it intently when suddenly, the paused screen jumped, and the creature moved. It slid in a direction that was opposite the recorded image and very slowly started to approach the camera. The long, black, tattered robes it was wearing trailed after it like some sort of macabre bridal gown, kicking up sand and dirt behind it as it swayed back and forth. The image of the sky above it that was once and clear with a thousand stars and planets descended into darkness, the moon swallowed whole in a massive sea of clouds. I rubbed my aching eyes, trying to make the sight in front of me go away, but I just couldn’t seem to make it stop. Step by step, it moved forward, bringing the shadows closer and closer to the camera, until they were merely a few feet away. The Monster then stopped and tilted it’s head to the side, looking me dead in the eyes and then after a few moments, brought it’s gnarled hand up into the frame of the camera, and I let out a scream. There, hanging from his curled fingers was that of Ben’s severed head. His eyes had been gouged out, leaving nothing but deep black holes. There were still bits of blood vessels and sinew from the optical nerves hanging out from the empty sockets, that endlessly oozed rivers of blood as he held it up higher for a better view of the camera. His mouth was open in a eternal scream of pain that no one would ever hear, as the crushed bits of spinal column swayed out underneath in some sort of gruesome fashion. The Monster’s shoulders shook… was it laughing? Pulling its arm back, it took hold of Ben’s head and threw it into the lens of the camera with full force, splattering blood and bits of flesh all over me. I looked down and my white shirt was covered in the bright red color of his blood. I could feel the warmth of it as it spread across my chest. I reeled back against the far wall of the small room, knocking several small items off a shelf. 

“Hey Mr. Bates? Are you okay?” I felt one of the security men touch my arm and I quickly snapped back into reality, looking at the normal looped image on the screen in front of me. I grabbed the front of my shirt and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing. I had to go see Ben straight away. Something wasn’t right. 

I hurried to the door and yanked it open, hesitating for a moment. “How do you stop them, the Carnivores? ” I asked.

Smith took another look at the screen. “You need to find the person who gave it the command to hunt and make them cancel the request, there is no other way.”

I thought of the moment when I walked into Benjamin’s private quarters and saw Thomas sitting on top of Benjamin, his shirt off and his pants open, running his fingers across his bare chest and looking at me with such contempt. I heard his mocking voice repeating the same thing over and over ‘he fucked me so much better than he will ever fuck you.’ My hands balled into fists, the rage building inside of me, I struggled to keep myself calm. Then I remembered the sight of him ripping the visor off of Ben’s face, and that horrible scream that filled the room with such agony and pain that it almost brought me to my knees. 

“What happens if the person who gave the command is dead?” I asked, my mind already set on the task ahead of me. 

Smith shook his head. “Unless you plan on hacking into the central F.E.C. headquarters and deleting their main frame to shut their command down, which is what we would love to do, there is no other way. Carnivores hunt forever, relentlessly. Even if their Master is decreased.”

I left the Control room with fury running through my veins and wandered out into the hall. Everyone I had spoken to had only good words for Thomas, they valued him, pitied him and sympathized with his condition. He was a man of good standing, and most of the people here had their freedom because of him. A thought ran through my head that possibly, this was one reason why they weren’t so concerned with apprehending him. Even though he committed murder, and whatever other atrocities he could get away with, they were not willing to hunt him down. He was a threat that had to be taken care of, regardless of how they perceived him, and with the visor in his possession, no one was safe. I knew that he had to be stopped, one way or another. I would do it myself. He was the dark cloud that hung heavily over me and ate away at the corners of my comfort. 

Walking briskly down the corridors, lost in my own thoughts, I made my way through the network of twists and turns, until I came to an unfamiliar intersection. I looked around, and there was no one to be seen, I had gotten myself lost. Cursing, I turned around to retrace my steps when suddenly the harsh overhead lights started flickering. I stood in place as they flashed off and in in rapid succession, a wave of panic overcoming me. I was in an area where there was no source of natural light at all. I heard the electronic buzz of the lights fluctuate on for a moment, then suddenly all the light vanished as they switched off one last time. “Oh god.” I whispered, patiently praying that the base had emergency lighting. Sure enough after a few short moments, the back up lighting system kicked on, leaving the corridor illuminated in a very dull amber glow. Hardly enough light to see well in, but enough to try and navigate my way back to where I was supposed to be going. Along the way, I finally ran into some of the Messengers who were now scurrying about, trying to figure out what happened. It wasn’t just the lighting system that went out, the power to the entire base had been interrupted, leaving only the most basic systems online with an emergency solar powered generator, which would only last a few hours. All the computer systems were offline, and the last bit of power was being converted to life support systems and the perimeter security system. I picked up my pace a little, realizing that in this semi darkness, it would be the perfect opportunity for Thomas to make his move. I had to get to Ben as soon as possible. 

Finally reaching the door to his office, I noticed that it was not sealed shut, it had been left open a crack and after the black out, it did not automatically slide shut, the mechanism had jammed, leaving it slightly ajar. I couldn’t make out any sign of activity from inside the room. I called out to him, “Ben? Ben are you there?” The only response was silence. I had a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. This is where I was to meet him. Gripping the slippery metal, I pulled with all my strength, trying to force it open. My shoulders and back protested profusely as I put all my weight into it and managed to get it open far enough to slip inside. In the dull amber glow of the safety lights, I could see that nothing seemed to be disturbed. Desk, chairs, sofa, computer, cabinets, all in place but no Benjamin. Walking over to the desk, I went around behind it and something caught my eye, lying on the floor. I bent down to pick it up and saw Ben’s white gauze bandages or what was left of them, ripped to shreds. Fresh blood stained the edges and I clutched them in my shaking hands, my heart racing, trying to figure out what happened. A sudden commotion from outside brought me back over to the door, and I peered out as a group of security ran by the office, their arms filled with all sorts of weapons and dressed in full battle gear. Something was going on, I wanted to go find out, but first I had to find Benjamin. 

I was about to leave when I abruptly felt something hit the back of my head, blurring my vision and making me stagger back into the room. I fell down onto the floor, landing on all fours and heard the door being pushed shut. Trying to stop the room from spinning, I looked up slightly to thick, leather laced boots moving forward towards me, with the tattered, bottom hem of a shredded robe flowing behind them. It was the Carnivore. I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the spots of distortion in front of my eyes and clutched at a chair, trying to bring myself to my feet. Looking around the room in desperation, I knew that I had to find a weapon. I couldn’t take on a genetically altered freak with my bare hands. I scrambled around Ben’s desk and took a chance, pulling open the bottom drawer. Sure enough there it was, a half empty bottle of whiskey. Something told me that it would be in there. Gripping the neck of the bottle, I smashed it against the edge of the desk, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. The stench of the alcohol immediately began to fill the room, making me even more light headed. I held the weapon up in front of me and backed away from the dark, looming shape that slowly approached me. Here in front of me was the thing of my dreams, the creation of my nightmares, the thing that I despised so much about myself that I took my own life over it. And yet here it was, in all its gruesome glory, standing in front of me, having no other reason to exist, other than to take a life. All the visions I had, they were premonitions leading up to this moment, a confrontation with one of the things that devoured my soul time and time again. 

I gripped the neck of the broken bottle in defiance. The Carnivore stood its ground, unmoving. I thought about my life now, about how Ben promised me that we would start over again, put the past behind us and forget about everything that happened before. I really wanted it to be true, but we were here in a world where neither of us really belonged, tossed into the middle of something that was bigger than the both of us. I took a breath and called out to the creature in front of me, trying my best to get it to make a move, do something against me, anything… the waiting was excruciating. “Why me? Why were you sent here after me? I have no valuable information that the F.E.C. could use, they should know that by now. You’ve hacked my brain for months and it was pointless. No results. Nothing of interest. What could I possibly have that is valuable enough to you that you’d be willing to murder me for?” 

I could see the Carnivore stir slightly. It turned its cloaked and shrouded head down towards the floor, pointing with a finger and I followed its gaze down to Ben’s bloody bandage. Then I came to the conclusion that the reason why I was its target was because of Ben. Killing me now, would completely crush Ben, and thus the rebellion, leaving them with no leader, which is why I had a target on my head. I looked up from the bandage on the floor just in time enough to see the Carnivore lunge at me, seconds away from making contact. Thinking quickly, I spun around with the bottle with all the strength that I could muster and let it crash into the side if it’s head. It let out a shriek of pain and reeled back a little, but quickly recovered and kept moving forward. I tried to move around it, to get to the door, as fast as my feet would allow me to. My fingers caught hold of the steel sheet and I tried my best to pry it open with everything I had, but I was too slow. I could feel the Carnivore’s fingers snake over my neck from behind, their icy coolness instantly freezing my skin with a touch more frigid than death itself. Its fingertips bit into my flesh, holding onto my neck tightly and pulling me slightly away from the door. I held my breath for a second; unsure of what was going to happen next, when I felt it pull its arm back, taking the upper part of my body with it. I braced myself, but nothing could prepare me for the sudden impact of my head hitting the steel door at full force. A blinding pain shot through my skull, bringing with it another memory flash, the brilliant glowing lights of the emulator and the glass… all the broken glass around me. I fell to my knees, knowing that there would be no quick recovery from this. The F.E.C. would use my death to crush Ben, and the rebellion. I had failed again. I shuddered and waited for the Carnivore to finish me off, praying that it would be quick and merciless. I had only one regret, and that was being unable to protect Ben. All this time, he had been protecting me from the demons inside of my head, and now when he needed me the most, I wasn’t there for him. I remembered the bloody bandage and sighed. Maybe he was already dead. The Carnivore could have been sent to assassinate us both, thus ending the rebellion with one quick stroke. 

Waiting for my death, I managed to find a bit of strength to lift my painful head. The Carnivore loomed over me and bent down to pull me to my feet. I immediately started to wobble, having no control over my legs at the moment due to the sudden blow to the head. It threw me over towards the couch, where I crumpled on it and sank down into the soft cushions, confused. Standing in front of me, I could feel it watching me, judging me, sizing me up. Then suddenly, it spoke. “I tried my best to watch over you Dustin, to give you want you really wanted.” I watched through clouded eyes as it released a small black pack that was strapped to the belt at its side and opened it up. It pulled out a silver syringe, and a vial. Every part of my head was screaming at me to get up and try to escape. Whatever was in that needle was obviously meant for me and it couldn’t possibly be good. I managed to pull myself up slightly on the couch, but the change only made me more disorientated. The room spun he leaned forward, pushing on my chest and I fell back into the cushions, nothing more than a trapped animal. 

I narrowed my eyes, trying to concentrate on his voice. “What are you?” I asked.

“Not what. Who?” The Carnivore reached up and pulled his cowl down, and then quickly slipped the black scarf off as well. I gasped, it was Brock. My heart raced. “You look surprised. Didn’t expect me?” he asked.

“I was told that you were with the F.E.C. now, why are you here? Did they send you to kill me?”

Brock shook his head and gave me a slightly crestfallen look. “I knew he’d tell you that.” He sighed. “Yes I joined with the F.E.C. but it was only to protect you. I don’t remember how I got here, but the first person I ran into was Ben. He was sick and thin, wasting away from looking for you. He explained to me what he had done, and how he lost you. I have absolutely no love for that man, and what he’s done to you, but I’m not cruel. We had one thing in common, that we both loved you.”

I cringed at his words. Hearing the word ‘loved’ used in past tense made my heart shatter. I wanted to reach out and wrap my arms around him. I needed to feel his skin to make sure he wasn’t a hallucination or dream anymore. This was Brock, MY BROCK, the one who had loved me in silence for so many years, the one who adored me and melted my heart with those young, innocent eyes. Seeing him here like this, dressed in the black body armor from head to toe, emblazoned with the F.E.C. logo made me feel sick. There was a uncharacteristic, cold look in his eyes that truly frightened me. The last time he gazed upon me with those eyes, I was raping him, forcing myself upon him with vicious force, wanting to shatter his body completely, until there was nothing left. He never cried out in pain. Not once. He took all the abuse, all the torture with silent resignation, his love for me being stronger than the Monster inside of me. He held out believing in that love until the moment when my hands wrapped around his neck and I choked the life out of him. Had I also taken the innocence, that goodness away from him too? I couldn’t bare the thought. 

I watched him intently as he continued the story, the dim safety lights barely illuminating his thin form. “There was no choice. In order to find you, we needed help. Benjamin went with the Messengers, the rebellion and I the F.E.C. This way if either group found you, we’d know about it for certain. While I was there, the F.E.C. recognized my skills with technology, and I was able to adapt and quickly rise in their ranks and was soon part of the Communications. This was most advantageous, because I was able to monitor all incoming and outgoing transmissions. Eventually they found you. They assumed that you were one of the Messengers, and quickly took you away to be reprogrammed. They moved you to a unnamed facility that was off the grid and connected to you to the Visor. I could not discover the location, everything was encrypted, however, I was able to access part of the F.E.C.’s mainframe that does some of the programming for the visor devices and block out certain things.”

“My memories of you..” I whispered.

“Yes. I needed time to find you, and if they dug deep enough and found those memories of our past together, my cover would be blown and I wouldn’t be able to locate you.” He moved slightly, coming to stand directly in front of me now. “I was monitoring your vitals the entire time, while they tortured you. They started to become weak. I had no choice but to contact Benjamin and send him all the encrypted information that I had gathered in hopes that he could find you. That’s when he put Thomas on it, who immediately discovered your location and went to rescue you. Little did I know that he would steal the visor and bring it back to your base here, messing everything up.”

I straightened up my back, my head was starting to clear now and I was able to pull myself into a sitting position. What he was saying was starting to make sense now. I couldn’t ever believe that Brock would turn against me. He was a kind soul, a good person, and deep down inside, I knew that he could never be my enemy. I loved him too much for that. “Thomas... He murdered Dr. Wise and tried to kill Ben, and yet everyone here doesn’t see him as a threat, they believe that he can be ‘cured’ if they take him alive.”

“Dr. Wise was murdered because Thomas assumed he had taken the information off the computer and wiped it clean, but he was wrong. The information was stored away safely by Lizzie under my orders.”

“What?!? Lizzie?” My jaw dropped and I stared at him in shock. “She’s been working with you?”

A strange look fell over his face and he nodded. I couldn’t read his expression at all, which was a strange thing for him, Brock was always so open, so brutally honest that it hurt. “How do you think she and her group made it out of the F.E.C. facility? I engineered an escape for her, in exchange for her coming here and sending me back reports from time to time. I had to keep an eye on him, just for my own sanity.”

I was lost now, not quite sure who he was talking about. My head hurt. I wanted to lie down and shut my eyes, I wanted to find Ben, I wanted to hold Brock and tell him I was sorry. My mind was all over the place. I silently wondered if this is what Thomas felt like after the visor fried his brain. “Him? You mean Thomas?” I asked. 

“No. Benjamin. I wanted to make sure that he was doing the right thing. Think about all the lies and manipulation he’s put you through, Dustin. He is not the kind of person that you can trust. He’s only looking out for one thing, and that’s himself. He might be telling you that he loves you, professing it over and over but you have to learn to see through the smokescreen. He only loves you because he NEEDS you to remind him what love feels like because he’s lost it all from his heart ages ago. If you look into his eyes, there is so much pain and torment there that it’s almost maddening, but there is a reason why it is there, it’s because he chooses to hold all that inside of him. Love is nothing more than a afterthought. Open your eyes Dustin, don’t let him make you blind as well. Thomas didn’t see it, and he paid the price.”

Brocks words were starting to sound like the exact same thing that Thomas had said to me. Almost word for word, it was an uncanny familiarity that made me wonder if perhaps there was a shred of truth to them. “What did you say?” My mind went blank. Utterly blank. Nothing else but Brock’s words.

To my surprise, he came and sat down next to me. “No one here told you yet? Not even Ben himself?” Brock sighed. “Thomas and Benjamin have been together, as lovers for months now Dustin. Lizzie informed me about it. They were fairly happy together too, it wasn’t a fact that they advertised around the base, but everyone knew, and they supported it. Thomas wanted to start a rebellion, but lacked the people skills to bring it all together, Benjamin needed someone to cling on to, to manipulate into thinking that they were nothing without him. Together they built everything you see around you now, you are in their house now…”

“STOP, for the love of god Brock stop!” I shouted. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I couldn’t. I felt the tears starting to well up in my eyes, making my already sore face hurt more. I looked up to see the lights flicker on and off again, the rebels were trying to fix the power. “Why did you cut the power, Brock?” I asked, trying to get my mind off Ben for a moment. 

“I didn’t, that was Thomas's doing. That’s why I am here. I know what his plan is. He’s insane. He’s already accomplished the first part of it, weakening the base by taking away the main power, and cutting off communications and taking Benjamin hostage. The next will be to orchestrate a total destruction of this facility and everyone in it.”

“He’s got Ben? Oh god Brock, he’s going to kill him, I just know it.” I clamped tightly on his arm. “Please help me; we’ve got to stop him.”

Brock shook his head. “You still don’t quite understand it yet, do you Dustin?” he asked. I saw something flash in Brock’s hand, he moved suddenly and before I could react, I felt the needle penetrate my neck and the hot flash of the burning liquid enter my veins. After it was all injected, he pulled the needle out and tossed it into the room where it clattered along the floor. I put my hand over the injection site, feeling a small drop of blood there.

“What is this?” 

Rising from the couch, Brock retrieved his scarf and wrapped it back around his face again, and pulled his hood up. “It's the same drug that Thomas Bell injected Benjamin with. It's a fast acting sedative that will have you out within moments, very potent stuff.” I felt a wave of exhaustion start to overcome me. I fought to keep my eyes open.

The sluggish feeling took over me, I lost control of my body and slumped down onto the couch. “Why are you doing this Brock?”

“I am not here to stop Thomas. I am here to help him.”

My eyes closed.


End file.
